Windies and Black Caps pay homage to Runako Morton

HOBART, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 21: Runako Morton of the West Indies plays a shot during the Twenty20 International match between Australia and the West Indies at Bellerive Oval on February 21, 2010 in Hobart, Australia.

Basseterre (St Kitts), July 13 – The West Indies and New Zealand players used the third One-Day International here to honour the late Runako Morton, the Leeward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago batsman who died in a road mishap in Trinidad in March.

Players, team and match officials observed a minute’s silence prior to the contest at Warner Park Wednesday, and during the game the West Indies players wore Morton’s ODI number 37 on their jerseys as a mark of respect, reports Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

Following the game, members of the Windies team presented Morton’s widow, Liselle Phillip-Morton, with a cheque for an undisclosed sum of money.

New Zealand allrounder Kyle Mills also handed over his number 37 jersey to Liselle Phillip-Morton, who was a guest of the West Indies Cricket Board president Julian Hunte.

Unfortunately, the West Indies went down by 88 runs, but captain Darren Sammy said his side would try to make amends in the fourth ODI over the weekend.

“We wanted to win for Runako and the people… so we will come back Saturday and look to get it right and do it for them,” he said.

Morton played 15 Tests, 56 ODIs and seven Twenty20 Internationals in a nine-year international career.